Genesis 12:1-20

The Obedience of Abram

12:1 Now the Lord said to Abram,

“Go out from your country, your relatives, and your father’s household

to the land that I will show you.

12:2 Then I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you,

and I will make your name great,

so that you will exemplify divine blessing.

12:3 I will bless those who bless you,

but the one who treats you lightly I must curse,

and all the families of the earth will bless one another by your name.”

12:4 So Abram left, just as the Lord had told him to do, and Lot went with him. (Now Abram was 75 years old when he departed from Haran.) 12:5 And Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they left for the land of Canaan. They entered the land of Canaan.

12:6 Abram traveled through the land as far as the oak tree of Moreh at Shechem. (At that time the Canaanites were in the land.) 12:7 The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” So Abram built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

12:8 Then he moved from there to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and worshiped the Lord. 12:9 Abram continually journeyed by stages down to the Negev.

The Promised Blessing Jeopardized

12:10 There was a famine in the land, so Abram went down to Egypt to stay for a while because the famine was severe. 12:11 As he approached Egypt, he said to his wife Sarai, “Look, I know that you are a beautiful woman. 12:12 When the Egyptians see you they will say, ‘This is his wife.’ Then they will kill me but will keep you alive. 12:13 So tell them you are my sister so that it may go well for me because of you and my life will be spared on account of you.”

12:14 When Abram entered Egypt, the Egyptians saw that the woman was very beautiful. 12:15 When Pharaoh’s officials saw her, they praised her to Pharaoh. So Abram’s wife was taken into the household of Pharaoh, 12:16 and he did treat Abram well on account of her. Abram received sheep and cattle, male donkeys, male servants, female servants, female donkeys, and camels.

12:17 But the Lord struck Pharaoh and his household with severe diseases because of Sarai, Abram’s wife. 12:18 So Pharaoh summoned Abram and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why didn’t you tell me that she was your wife? 12:19 Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her to be my wife? Here is your wife! Take her and go!” 12:20 Pharaoh gave his men orders about Abram, and so they expelled him, along with his wife and all his possessions.

Genesis 6:1

God’s Grief over Humankind’s Wickedness

6:1 When humankind began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them,

Genesis 50:2

50:2 Joseph instructed the physicians in his service to embalm his father, so the physicians embalmed Israel.

Genesis 50:1

The Burials of Jacob and Joseph

50:1 Then Joseph hugged his father’s face. He wept over him and kissed him.

Isaiah 13:2-5

13:2 On a bare hill raise a signal flag,

shout to them,

wave your hand,

so they might enter the gates of the princes!

13:3 I have given orders to my chosen soldiers;

I have summoned the warriors through whom I will vent my anger,

my boasting, arrogant ones.

13:4 There is a loud noise on the mountains –

it sounds like a large army!

There is great commotion among the kingdoms –

nations are being assembled!

The Lord who commands armies is mustering

forces for battle.

13:5 They come from a distant land,

from the horizon.

It is the Lord with his instruments of judgment,

coming to destroy the whole earth.

Isaiah 18:3

18:3 All you who live in the world,

who reside on the earth,

you will see a signal flag raised on the mountains;

you will hear a trumpet being blown.

Amos 3:6

3:6 If an alarm sounds in a city, do people not fear?

If disaster overtakes a city, is the Lord not responsible?

Zechariah 14:2

14:2 For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to wage war; the city will be taken, its houses plundered, and the women raped. Then half of the city will go into exile, but the remainder of the people will not be taken away.